Pros
The mantra of Catapult is great, who wouldn't want to be inspiring who doesn't want to be courageous? For a pharma ad agency that statement is awesome, and it's plastered on the walls for everyone to see. They really try to foster and support new talent through the University training program, and there's teams regularly sent to the NY office to participate in ongoing education. Out in the open area, during the weekly "coffee talk" management gives a quick overview of the agency and business in the spirit of transparency.
Cons
Truth be told, I've been sitting on this review for about a year now, I wanted to make sure that I truly thought and reflected on my time at H4B so I could be honest and sincere in my feedback and not knee-jerk. Truth is that senior account management has had a lot of turnover, it's been that way before I joined, and it happened again after I left. While the creative leadership is pretty solid, the account team has no leadership. After those weekly "coffee talk" meetings the doors quickly closed in their offices where they would sit for hours and hours talking among themselves, rather than engaging with the teams. My direct manager, who I truly love as a person, was a weak manager. There was no positive reinforcement, no helpful suggestions. Creative cried the loudest, and they won. It was always the account team doing wrong. The NY leaders have a very powerful saying, "assume positive intent" - it would have been great if they listed to their bosses and emulated that sentiment. The truth is that the accounts that Catapult manages are not solid, that you are always in jeopardy of losing them. I'm sure that doesn't make managing the agency easy, but please pretend that you enjoy it. The agency needs real morale, not just another Happy Hour to mask the misery.